Reviews with content warning for Excrement - The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

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Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

26 reviews

heron17's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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hello_lovely13's review against another edition

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dark reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was incredibly thought-provoking and had many lines I wished to highlight. As stated in the afterword, this story is a question, rather than an answer, which I think is quite an interesting experience. There is a lot of discussion proposed around happiness: how it is both undervalued (what with the belief that things surrounding happiness, instead of pain, is perceived as shallow or "stupid") and desperately sought after, no matter the cost, which is quite the paradox that exists in our society. Similarly is the way guilt is portrayed and discussed in the story: guilt supposedly doesn't exist in Omelas, due to all suffering being taken away through the misery of the child, yet some people leave Omelas, while others, those that stay, might initially feel guilt or sympathy for the child, but then explain it away to justify their consent to this system (as well as maybe ignoring it completely to live in their bliss "without" any guilt). It is interesting that the suffering of the child is not a secret to any of the citizens of Omelas because it implies that each citizen is making a distinct decision in regards to the situation whether to stay or leave. The last line is also interesting; the fact that those that leave "seem to know where they are going" poses another question to the audience right as the story ends. The afterward also includes an interesting point about interpretation, as well as an example that was sent to the author in which we can envision ourselves as each role in the story: the child, those that stay, and those who choose to leave. Overall, an excellent story that satisfies its intent: asking a question about happiness, suffering, preservation (self and others), and humanity's selfishness.

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alastair_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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felicitasviviancoco's review against another edition

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challenging reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I read the shortstory without any additional interpretation or information about it. Afterwards I watched a video of the yt-creator Books 'n' Cats which really opened up even more interpretations.

my first thoughts about the meaning came in the paragraph talking about the child not even being able to enjoy a good life if it were freed which reminded me of the arguments used when talking about developing countries sometimes (by people I don't like). This idea that someone is beyond saving and therefore their suffering is acceptable always bothered me.

I came to realise that I truly love books which encourage reflecting my moral values and stances (like this short story or Frankenstein for example)

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lethargicbat's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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emfass's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

An absolute emotional wallop of a short story. What does utopia/a good life cost, and are we willing to pay that cost? What do we do, who are we, when we've been shown the dark underbelly of our world?

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latibluee's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

beautifully haunting
the type of story that will nestle itself in your mind and you will keep idly thinking about it days, weeks, maybe even months or years after you've read it - even though it is only 5 pages long (or maybe partly due to that fact?)

The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain.

We have almost lost hold; we can no longer describe a happy man, nor make any celebration of joy. How can I tell you about the people of Omelas? They were not naive and happy children – though their children were, in fact, happy. They were mature, intelligent, passionate adults whose lives were not wretched. O miracle! but I wish I could describe it better.

The joy built upon successful slaughter is not the right kind of joy; it will not do; it is fearful and it is trivial. A boundless and generous contentment, a magnanimous triumph felt not against some outer enemy but in communion with the finest and fairest in the souls of all men everywhere and the splendor of the world’s summer; this is what swells the hearts of the people of Omelas, and the victory they celebrate is that of life.

Yet it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of the splendor of their lives. Theirs is no vapid, irresponsible happiness.

At times one of the adolescent girls or boys who go to see the child does not go home to weep or rage, does not, in fact, go home at all. Sometimes also a man or woman much older falls silent for a day or two, and then leaves home. These people go out into the street, and walk down the street alone. They keep walking, and walk straight out of the city of Omelas, through the beautiful gates. [...] Each alone, they go west or north, towards the mountains. They go on. They leave Omelas, they walk ahead into the darkness, and they do not come back. The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to most of us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible that it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.

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